Warehouse in Goose Creek adds 50 workers

En route to children's stores across the county, thousands of boxes of toddler-size apparel are making a stop at a Goose Creek warehouse.

Gerber Childrenswear has begun distributing its products out of space the company has leased from a local lighting company. Previously, the company received and repackaged its overseas deliveries at a warehouse near Montgomery, Ala.

Workers at the Goose Creek site take in shipments of clothes that were made overseas and brought in through the Port of Charleston, explained Terry Vera, whose distribution company was hired to oversee the local operation. The products are repackaged and then sent on to retailers across the country.

Though some management positions were transferred from the old site, Vera said most of the 50 warehouse positions were filled by local workers.

Land line

Seabrook Island residents and visitors enjoy the sight of horses running free over some 28 acres of pasture land as they enter the community's front gate. They hope to keep it that way.

The Seabrook Island Green Space Conservancy, which already owns 6 acres of the tract, has entered into a 20-year agreement with the Seabrook Island Club that provides the conservancy group the first right of offer to acquire the roughly 22 remaining acres if the club ever decides to sell the land.

The club has no plans to sell the acreage, club President Chuck Fox said. "This agreement is in keeping with the club's focus on continuing to add to our community's quality of life," he said. "Should the club ever decide to exit the equestrian amenity, providing the opportunity to preserve this area as open pasture is an important step."

Conservancy group President Dick Hughes applauded the club for the move. "This transaction was accomplished in a spirit of good will; no monetary or other consideration was involved," he said.

(Publicity) stunt plane

Mark Malkoff, who is living on an AirTran Airways plane for 30 days as a promotion for the company, flew into Charleston International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

From his blog, www.markonairtran.com, Malkoff says he's getting over his fear of flying through the project and staying in touch through Gogo in-flight WiFi, a service AirTran just launched.

The Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau welcomed Malkoff in local style with an on-tarmac beach and shagging lessons. Per his rules, he could not enter the terminal or leave the runway.

Business heats up

A national chain that sells air heating and cooling supplies has decided that the temperature, er, time is right to open up another Charleston area location.

Johnstone Supply, a wholesale company that sells supplies to contractors, will open a second store on College Park Road as early as December, said Columbia-based owner Bill Rathbun, who operates two South Carolina stores.

Despite the slowdown in home-building and commercial development, Rathbun said it will better position him for when economic times turn around. "You've got to be prepared for when it breaks loose," he said last week.

And the winner is...

They weren't exactly fighting like cats and dogs, but an advertising campaign developed by Rawle Murdy proved to be the cat's meow for the Charleston-based firm.

Rawle Murdy picked up a national Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Award in the category of Community Relations Campaigns and Issues Management for a Business for its marketing campaign for the Charleston Animal Society.

Creating a mock presidential race between Spike the Dog and Biscuit the Cat to help rebrand the nonprofit and launch its new state-of-the-art center earned the firm its first Silver Anvil for a community relations campaign.

Paper weight

Elevators make all the difference in the world when you're dealing with 2,000-pound computer server racks.

That's partly why officials at BiblioLabs LLC decided to relocate from an older building on Cannon Street in downtown Charleston to a modern office building near the former IMAX building, said chief financial officer Andrew Roskill.

BiblioLabs was formed in 2006 by local real estate developer Bob Holt, who is the company's chief executive officer. It employs nine workers and could add a few more software engineers once the move is complete. The company scans older books using a high-tech method that doesn't destroy them.

In jeopardy

What city is famous for Jestine's Kitchen and Catfish Row? Why Charleston, of course. That was the question and correct answer on the syndicated game show "Jeopardy!" recently. But the contestant got it wrong. He chose New Orleans.